Beautiful, Fragile Human Lips
by littlegoldenleaf
Summary: Whouffle. Rewrite of several scenes from Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and A Nightmare in Silver.
1. Part One

"You are beautiful."  
Clara can't help but think that there's something more that the Doctor means by that, an unspoken truth hidden in his words.  
"Beautiful, fragile human skin," he says as he takes her hand in his, gently tracing over her palm with his thumb.  
She looks up at him with wide eyes, meeting his briefly before dropping her gaze, staring at her hands as she feels a pink flush spread across her cheeks. Shy and a little embarrassed, this was new.  
He folds her hand over, like it's curling around a secret, and she can't help wincing slightly as the burn pinches at her palm, her hand uncoils reflexively and she lifts her hand up, blowing cool air across it gently.  
"Sorry," he murmurs quietly. "Are you okay?" he asks in concern, gently cradling her raised hand and dipping his head to kiss her palm softly.

When he raises his head again he is close, so close that Clara can smell him, and she smiles at him shyly.  
The Doctor leans in closer, hesitating, unsure, and she meets him halfway, their lips colliding as they realise they both feel the same way.  
Eventually the Doctor pulls away, knowing they can't stay here much longer, but his hand lifts, gently cupping her cheek.  
"Clara," he breathes, his voice filled with wonder, and his gaze one of pure adoration. His hand lingers on her cheek for a moment, and then his sonic is out and Clara is gazing at him curiously as he launches into one of his usual rambles, talking at a hundred miles an hour and flailing his arms.  
"I need to find… music," he says, grinning as music surrounds them, and holding his hand out towards her; she slips her hand in his without thinking twice, laughing as she lets him pull her along…


	2. Part Two

"I don't want to forget," Clara says in a small voice, biting her bottom lip gently in an attempt to keep back the tears that threaten to spill out. "Not everything." And especially not that kiss, she thinks to herself, a single tear dripping down her cheek and her eyes watering. She didn't want to forget a single moment, not after the Doctor had been so open and honest with her.  
"I'm sorry," he says simply, lifting his hand to brush away her tear with his thumb. "It has to be this way, you know that Clara."  
"We'll still have secrets."  
"Secrets keep us safe." _Better that Clara forgets, rather than us both dying here._  
"I know now," he tells her, cupping her chin with one hand and lifting her chin so that she is looking into his eyes. "I know how you feel about me, Clara, I know that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you," he says truthfully, looking deep into her eyes, his hands resting on each of her cheeks.  
"How do you know you'll remember?" Clara asks, doubt showing in her voice.  
"I don't," he answers her. "But time works in strange ways, Clara Oswald, and this erased day might just give me the courage to admit my feelings."  
Clara blinks at him, fighting back tears. "You better tell me, chin boy," she chokes out, attempting to smile, but she can't help the tears that spill Doctor pulls her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head as she buries her face into his chest. He strokes her hair reassuringly, holding her close to him for a moment before stepping back, his hands resting on her shoulders.  
"My Clara," he breathes in awe. To him she is breathtakingly beautiful, despite her tear stained face. "My beautiful Clara," he continues, one hand tracing along her cheek and jaw, then across her soft lips.  
"Beautiful, fragile human lips," he says, kissing those lips tenderly, a farewell, yet also an unspoken promise.

—-

The Doctor smiles at Clara as she enters the TARDIS console room, slightly bedraggled from her swim, her towel still draped across her shoulder, and yet somehow to him she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. He wants to close that distance between them, steal another kiss from her soft lips, but she doesn't remember that day, it exists now only in his memories.  
He can't bring himself to tell her how he feels, not because he doesn't love her, not because he doesn't think she'll love him back, but because he's scared. Scared, because he's falling for someone, and he's been down this road before, and it only ends in pain. He's a Time Lord, and she's human.  
The kind of man who hid his feelings, denying his own emotions, that's what kind of man he is now. A man who's suffered too much, lost too many.  
He'll never tell her, to protect both of them from being hurt. Even though all he wants is his Clara back in his arms again, he can't bring himself to admit his feelings to her, not even to himself, because he doesn't want to admit that he's in love with her, because one day she'll leave, or she'll die, and he can't face that. So he'll keep his feelings hidden, because secrets will keep them safe.


	3. Part Three

"Clara," he says, and she raises her eyebrows at him out of curiosity, listening to him intently. "I suppose… I'm the only one who knows how I feel about you right now," he continues, and she gazes at him unspeakingly. "How funny you are, so funny and pretty." She can't help the smile that spreads across her lips for a moment, but it fades quickly, a nagging doubt pulling in her stomach. She knows he's never been one to admit his feelings, but still some part of her desperately hopes that it isn't the Cyber Planner, that he is actually speaking to her from his own two hearts. "And the truth is, I'm starting to like you, in a way that is more than just…" he says, and she finds himself leaning towards him, wanting to kiss him and tell him that she likes him too, but his voice seems to shift slightly towards the end, still soft and tender, but at the same time a little leering like the voice of the Cyber Planner, and she jerks away from him, slapping his hand across his cheek quickly before he notices what she is about to do, before she can change her own mind and give into his trap.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Yes, it's me!" he splutters, and she grins at him. "That really hurt! How did you know that was him?"  
_I didn't know, I was hoping it wasn't,_ she thinks to herself, but her answer is different from her thoughts. "Because even if that was true, which it's obviously… not," she adds hastily, "I know you would rather die than say it." That last bit was true, at least. She still believes that despite the Cyber Planner's attempted trick on her emotions that he's falling for her too, and his disbelief at her figuring out that the words of his confession were spoken through the Cyber Planner's mouth rather than his own only confirms this belief more.

…

"Do you think I'm pretty?" she asks, partly out of her own curiosity, but partly making sure that her chin boy is back to normal and not still the Cyber Planner. The metal is no longer on his cheek, but she doesn't want to be careless and fall for any tricks. "No," he answers, a little too quickly and defensively. "You're too short, and bossy, and your nose is all funny." She stares at him, not completely sure what to think about that. _My nose isn't all funny. _She looks into his eyes, hoping they'd give away something about his feelings, but they're unreadable. She knows him too well though, and she could swear that his retort was a defense, one put in place to hide his true feelings towards her.

…

_"Bye Clara! Bye Clara's boyfriend!"_  
Clara resists the urge to laugh as Angie and Artie race out of the TARDIS towards their house, the doors swinging gently closed behind them.  
"So… am I?" she asks after a moment of silence, smiling softly at the Doctor.  
"What?"  
"Are you my boyfriend?" she smirks. "You didn't deny it."  
"Wha-" he gapes at her. "What would make you think that?"  
"Oh, come on, Doctor," she sighs in exasperation. "All the hugs, hand holding and occasional flirt, and your defensiveness today… did you think I wouldn't notice? Be honest, what do you really think of me?"  
"I…" he pauses, unsure what to say to her. "I like you a lot, Clara Oswald. And I knew, from the moment I first laid eyes on you, that you were the most beautiful face this face ever saw, and I'm scared to say this, but I think I'm falling for you." It's probably the most honest he's ever been with her, and it feels like a weight has lifted off his chest by telling her this. He'd been battling with his own emotions for days, still remembering that erased day when they first kissed, wanting to be that close to her again, but at the same time he'd been afraid, afraid of falling in love only to lose her.  
"I like you a lot too, Doctor," Clara says quietly, gazing at him in awe, and his hand reaches up to rest against her cheek lightly. "Glad the feeling's mutual," she adds, and then her forehead scrunches slightly as she thinks for a moment. "What you said earlier, Doctor, about me. You said I was the 'impossible girl', what did you mean by that?" she asks, her eyes pleading him to answer her.  
"It's nothing," he says, but she glares at him slightly and he continues. "Every day I look at you Clara, and I think that I know everything about you, and then you say or do something that surprises me."  
She smiles, accepting his explanation, for now, at least.  
"Like this?" she asks, leaning up to kiss him, her eyes fluttering closed and her hands grabbing at the front of his coat, and he freezes slightly from shock before kissing her back, enjoying having the taste of her back on his lips, the way things should be.  
"Exactly like that," he says, grinning stupidly at her, pure joy soaring in his hearts, because finally she's his again, and nothing this time can break them apart.


End file.
